Land the World Cup

Outrage! Fixed! Travesty! The English press is strapping on the Lionheart armor and setting off on a crusade to destroy FIFA. Some Knights of the Realm are demanding the sacking of Zurich for its sacrilege in snubbing the motherland of soccer in favor of the Russian Empire. In America, feelings are still hurt over Qatar beating us out.

People mistake FIFA as a collection of nations but it is not. It is a collection of football associations, a majority of which happen to come from the developing world. Of course, it is all about greasy money and a corrupt process, so we can put that argument aside. Switch Budweiser out and replace it with Chevron as the sponsors in 2022. We know that. So we’re left with FIFA expanding the World Cup Finals to the world. Breaking new ground and building super imagined stadiums links modernity to FIFA and these football asociations; hosting World Cup games in rusty Grid Iron stadiums is not as bold. The World Cup is not just about football; it’s about architecture, style, and a happy house of fans who love the game but rarely imagine it happening on a grand scale in their oft forgotten homelands. Russia and Qatar make perfect sense for FIFA. China will be next, then India.

It is better to win the World Cup than put it on. That’s revenge, if revenge is what you need. US soccer should concentrate on making that happen. Yes, hosting would have helped in the push against the boring naysayers. But those morons are losing the battle. Soccer has arrived. Keeping the support up for the MLS is vital, bringing through the next wave of quality players, qualifying for Brazil, Russia and Qatar – and then seeing the American captain lifting the trophy. Now that is how you truly land the World Cup.